Valve seat refacer for saxophones and the like



. J ly 1952 N. P. DALESSANDRO VALVE SEAT REFACER FOR SAXOPHONES AND THE LIKE Filed Dec. 29, 1949 INVEN TOR.

Mi ia/as'ffi /essazza'a Y ATTORNEY Patented July 8, 1952 UNITED STATES, PATENTQFFICE VALVE SEAT REFACER FOR SAXOPHONES AND THE LIKE Nicholas P. DAlessandro, East Orange, N. J

Application December 29, 1949, Serial No. 135,793

This invention relates to tools for refacing or restoring flat valve seats, such as the key seats of Saxophones.

The seats for the keys or valves of saxophones and the like become rough, pitted or oxidized and accumulate dirt and other foreign matter on the circular surfaces surrounding the air holes thereby preventing the pads on the keys from accurately and tightly seating thereon so that leakage of air and loss of tonal quality results. Owing to the construction and, location of such saxophone valve seats, it is very difficult to clean or reface the same.

It is therefore a prime object of the present invention to provide a tool especially designed for cleaning the faces of saxophone valve seats and for refacing and restoring such valve seats to satisfactory working condition.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such a tool that is easilyplaced in operative position over any of the valve seats of-a saxophone, particularly the lower register keys or valves that are provided with guards which cannot be removed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tool of this kind with means for adjusting the tool to fit various sizes of valve seats and with means for properly centering the tool on the valve seat.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tool of this kind that is simple in construction, economical to manufacture and highly eflicient in use.

Other objects and advantages of the invention willbe apparent from the description thereof to follow taken in connection with'the accompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 is a top plan view of a valve seat refacing tool embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view thereof.

Figure Bis a sectional view on an enlarged scale showing the improved tool in operative position on the valve seat of a saxophone.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the plane of the line 44 of Figure 2.

In the drawing, the tool is shown as mounted in operative position on the valve seat I of one of the lower register keys or valves of a saxophone 2. Such lower keys are usually protected by guards or arms 3 extending over and across the keys with their ends connected to the saxophone pipe. This member protects the valve parts from being fouled or damaged by contact with the clothing of the player or with the surface of an instrument case or other objects.

4 Claims. (01. 90-12;5)

2 The valve hole is ordinarily of cylindrical construction with a tapered wall and having its port communicating with the opening in the saxophone pipe. The face or top supporting surface 4 of the valve seat is plane and straight for frictionally seating a disc shaped or flapvalve member (not shown) that usually is lined with a pad. It is very important that the valve member pad accurately and squarely on the face of the valve seat otherwise there will be a leak, with consequent loss of tonal quality.

. The present invention is concerned with a tool for cleaning off foreign matter that might become encrusted on the face i of the valve seat, and for refacing the same and for restoring it to satisfactory working condition. This tool comprises a member shown as a circular or disc-shaped metal plate 5 having its bottom surface planar face formed with diagonal' cutting edges 6. A guideway comprising a groove I is cut medially across the bottom surface of the plate and mounted loosely in this grooveis a spindle 8 having an annular groove 9 formed midway its ends. On one side of the groove 9, the spindle is formed with external right hand screw threads l0, and on the other side with left hand screw threads I I. The diameter of the spindle is greater than the width between the edges of the groove 7 so that it cannot fall out at this point. Encircling. each of the right hand and left hand screw threaded portions is a nut member [2, and depending from each nut member and extending outwardly of the groove 7 is a pin [3. A semi-circular pilot plate M or gripper is fastened to the outer end of each pin with its body portion disposed in a plane parallel with the plane of the body portion of plate 5. The straight sides of the plate I4- are positioned in opposed face to face relationship.

A handle I5 having an internal screwthreaded socket portion I6 at one end is threaded on to one end of the spindle 8 and forms an extension thereof. The opposite end of the handle may be knurled as indicated at I! to facilitate rotation thereof. Rotation of the handle to the right will cause the spindle 8 to rotate and. because of the threaded connection between the nuts and spindle, said nuts will move in opposite directions along the spindle carrying the plate members I4 therealong. A set screw l8 extending through an opening l9'in the center of the upper surface of the plate 5 and into the groove 9 in spindle 8 prevents longitudinal movement of the spindle but permits rotation thereof. The spindle 8 and the pins l3 thus constitute means for moving the gripper or plates l4 along the guideway 9 in opposite directions.

In use, the tool may be grasped by the right hand of the user, for example, and with the bottom surface of the plate 5 placed downwardly, the semi-circular pilot plates M are inserted into the port of the valve seat thereby guiding the plate 5 to contacting relationship with the face 4 of the valve seat and properly centering said plate. The handle [5 may then be rotated in order to move the curved peripheral edges of the plate l4 into intimate but loose contact with the inner surface of the wall of the valve port in order to hold the plate 5 against lateral movement during operations and to hold it at a proper angle to the axis of the port. When the plates are thus properly positioned, downward pressure on the plate 5 may be exerted by the fingers 20 of the left hand of theuser as shown in Figure 3 in order to hold the plate in a firm manner and against displacement and toforce the knife edges 6 into cutting contact with the foreign matter on the face of the valve seat. While pressure is being exerted downwardly on to the plate 5,

the handle is moved around horizontally carrying the plate 5 around with it so that the knife edges 6 cut through and removethe foreign matter encrusted on the face of the valve seat'thereby refacing said valve seat and restoring it to satisfactory working condition.

The parts of the tool are readily assembled and disassembled and by adjusting the plates M, the

'tool may be made to fit various sizes of valve holes.

Furthermore, the construction of the tool is such that, after the removal of the movable parts of the valve, it may readily be slid under the fixtures,-such as the guard 3, usually present over the valve seats on the lower end of a saxophone.

Changes in details of construction might be made without departing from the principle of the invention. Also, and as shown, the side of the plate 5 opposite the cutting edges may 'be made flat and smooth so as to'serve as a straight edge or gauge for determining whether or not the valve seat has been accurately re'faced.

What I claim is:

1. A valve seat refacing tool comprising a discshaped member having cutting edges upon one surface thereof, said member having a groove therein parallel to and opening to the cutting surface, 'a spindle rotatably mounted in said groove, said spindle having external right hand screw threads at one end and external left hand screw threads at the other end, a platefor and movable along each of said right hand and left hand threaded sections and externally of the cutting surface of the disc-shaped member for engaging the interior of a valve casing to guide 'saidmember to operative relation on a valve seat,

means for moving each of said plates by its threaded section, and a handle connected to one end of said spindle for rotating the same to move the plates and for manipulating the disc-shaped member for cutting the face of the valve seat.

2. A valve seat refacer for saxophones and the like including a metallic disc-shaped member having diagonal cutting edges along one surface thereof, said member having a diametrical groove opening into said cutting surface, a spindle rotatably mounted in said groove, said spindle having external right hand screw threads at one end and external left hand screw threads at the other end, a pin extending radially from each of thereof, said member having a diametrical groove opening into said cutting surface, a spindle rotatably mounted in said groove, said spindle having external right hand screw threads at one end and external left hand screw threads at the other end, means for preventing longitudinal movement of said spindle, a nut member threaded to each of said threaded sections, a pin extending radially from each nut member outwardly of the cutting surface of the disc-shaped member, a plate fastened to the outer end of each pin, and an elongated handle connected to one end of said spindle and radiating from the periphery of said disc-shaped'member 'for rotating the spindle andforlmanipulating the '.discshaped member. v

4. A valve refacing tool comprising a member provided with a planar face, cutting teeth extending substantially over theentire'surface' of said face, a guideway built into said face along said cutting'teeth medially of said face-and extending'from one side to 'the opposite *side of said face, opposed grippers, each guided along said guideway for movement in opposite directions, and means extending substantially in the plane of said face and connected to said grippers for creating said movement.

NICHOLAS P. DALESSANDRO.

REFERENCES crrEn The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,325,278 Dexter et-al. Dem-16, 1919 1,871,228

Stout etal. Aug. 9, 1932 

